Colombia’s coreguaje indigenous people restore water sources amidst ranching expansion
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In the Colombian Amazon, the Coreguaje people of the Jácome reserve are working to restore water sources diminished by cattle ranching and climate change.
Over the last decade, ranching has increased 53% around their territory in the Caquetá department. Simultaneously, over 2,500 hectares of water surfaces have disappeared from the micro-watersheds of the Orteguaza and Peneya rivers, the area where the reserve is located, between 2000 and 2023.
While the Colombian state invests millions in expanding cattle farming in the Amazon, the Jácome community is taking ecological restoration into its own hands to recover water. They began by mapping the old route of a lagoon, Puñuchiara, which dried up after being artificially connected to the Orteguaza River decades ago. This loss, combined with deforestation for pastureland and climate change, threatens the streams the community depends on.
The community has established a nursery with over 40,800 native plants, including fruit trees and hardwoods, across 120 hectares dedicated to ecological restoration. They hope to reforest areas along the streams and attract fish back to the waterways. Though they seek dialogue with neighboring ranchers to extend these efforts to private land, they report that their restoration efforts outside the reserve boundaries have been sabotaged.
The Colombian government invested at least 466 million dollars in cattle farming credits in the Amazon region between 2018 and 2025, a policy some see as contradictory to conservation efforts.
